Ciarus - Hostel

“Welcoming Atmosphere, Unwelcoming Encounter”

Report on My Stay at the Ciarus Hostel in Strasbourg I recently stayed at the Ciarus Hostel in Strasbourg during a school trip. It’s clear that the facility is designed to accommodate school groups: there are several lounge areas, a canteen, an outdoor courtyard, and two vending machines with snac… more

Report on My Stay at the Ciarus Hostel in Strasbourg I recently stayed at the Ciarus Hostel in Strasbourg during a school trip. It’s clear that the facility is designed to accommodate school groups: there are several lounge areas, a canteen, an outdoor courtyard, and two vending machines with snacks and drinks—perfect for enjoying a break while chatting with friends. We had dinner at the hostel on two occasions, and I was fully satisfied with the meals. You could choose either a starter or a dessert, along with one of the main course options. The portions were more than generous, so I never felt the need to ask for seconds—though I believe that wouldn’t have been a problem. As for drinks, there were several water stations where we could fill up our carafes with still water. One small note about breakfast: it might not meet the expectations of those who prefer savory foods or don’t typically eat fruit in the morning. There was a wide selection of fruit, endless plain yogurt, pancakes that could use some improvement, orange juice, the usual sausages found in most hotel breakfasts, and, of course, scrambled eggs. However, for those like me who really enjoy scrambled eggs, the quality might be a bit disappointing. Aside from that, everything else was more than acceptable. We were shown several recreational areas, including rooms equipped with pianos. Unfortunately, during our stay, some of these rooms were closed due to renovation work. After 10:00 p.m., a curfew is enforced, and complete silence is required. In our case, since we were accompanied by teachers, we were only allowed to leave our rooms if one of them was present. At night, a patrol is carried out by a night security team. Unfortunately, I had a very unpleasant experience with this team that I feel deserves to be mentioned. On our last night, my classmates and I were chatting late with our teacher. Although it was well past 10:00 p.m., no one said anything since we were with him. When I returned to my room and was about to enter, I heard a knock at the door. Upon opening it, I found a member of the night patrol who asked if I had been running in the hallway. Caught off guard, I answered in English that I hadn’t. The man looked at me suspiciously, began speaking to me in an overly familiar tone—which I had not invited—and started raising his voice, saying he had seen me running in the hallway and then entering my room. He then told me I had to pay a fine. The fine for disturbing the peace at night was €100—a completely disproportionate amount, especially for a youth hostel. I looked at him and firmly repeated that I hadn’t done anything. Still, he continued making accusations in an increasingly aggressive tone. Since I’m not used to these types of confrontations, the situation caused me to have a panic attack, to the point that I couldn’t even speak. Eventually, my teacher intervened, and after discussing what had happened, everyone agreed that I had done nothing wrong. Still, the night patrol insisted I had broken the rules and deserved the fine. To prove it, they showed us the security camera footage. We watched a full minute of footage in which I did not appear at all, while other people could clearly be seen—some behaving appropriately, others not. Once it was confirmed that I was completely innocent, I was allowed to return to my room. Conclusion Overall, the Ciarus Hostel in Strasbourg proved to be a well-equipped facility, ideal for hosting school groups thanks to its shared spaces, generous meals, and solid organization. However, the unpleasant incident involving the night patrol significantly impacted my personal experience. Being wrongly accused, confronted with disrespectful behavior, and exposed to an unnecessary emotional burden overshadowed the otherwise positive aspects of the trip. I believe that a hospitality establishment—especially one aimed at young people—should handle delicate situations with professionalism, calm, and fairness, so that every guest feels safe, respected, and properly welcomed.

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“Great location, clean, average stay”

Pros: Booked last minute and they had 1 private room left. Bunk beds, very clean, attached private bathroom. Everything was super clean. They had a luggage storage since I was leaving later. The whole place is super modern. The biggest pro is the location, it's very close to central Strasbourg and … more

Pros: Booked last minute and they had 1 private room left. Bunk beds, very clean, attached private bathroom. Everything was super clean. They had a luggage storage since I was leaving later. The whole place is super modern. The biggest pro is the location, it's very close to central Strasbourg and everything is walking distance. Cons: Some staff(?) unlocked and opened my door sometime in the morning, which was super weird and unsettling. I think it was a mistake though since right when they opened the door they closed it.

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“Study Abroad Experience at Ciarus”

I have a lot to say about Ciarus, both good and bad. First things first: our arrival. Personally, me and my roommate did not have any problems when we arrived and were promptly given our keys by one of the kind people at the front desk. However, upon asking others in our group how their arrival wen… more

I have a lot to say about Ciarus, both good and bad. First things first: our arrival. Personally, me and my roommate did not have any problems when we arrived and were promptly given our keys by one of the kind people at the front desk. However, upon asking others in our group how their arrival went, it turns out not everybody had the same experience. Another group of friends were told to wait for a while, and when one girl finally got to present her ID to a lady at the front desk, she was told “boys first” and had to go to the back of the line. Strange, I thought when she told me this. It sounded like from half of the students, their arrival was met rudely and did not leave a good first impression. Still, I continued on with high hopes for our stay here. The first week itself went well, actually! The room I was to stay in was very spacious, we had a beautiful view of the street, and the food was buffet style and decent. I personally felt like the room was nice. However, other students complained about how small their rooms felt like, which I didn’t understand until I visited their room and realized it was half of ours. I would definitely recommend studying abroad to continue hosting this program in Strasbourg! The city itself was not a problem at all. Ciarus became somewhat of a problem when we had our first case of COVID among our classmates. On a late night during our second week there, I received a message that someone had gotten COVID. Later on, another case. The next morning, two more cases. Those who had roommates with COVID had to spend the night with them, as the hostel was totally booked. Many students were exasperated by this. Ciarus did not enforce any type of COVID precautions or separation among the different parties. Upon telling Ciarus that we had COVID cases, they apparently were very shocked and angry, but it wasn’t our fault that we caught covid. When we had figured out who was positive and who was negative, Ciarus refused to allow us to have more rooms to house the negative roommates that were to be kicked out, forcing a reshuffling of rooming situations. A student I knew ended up in a very tiny room with two other students, giving almost no space for their belongings. They had two pairs of bunk beds, meaning 4 beds total. However, one of the beds had already been used by a COVID positive person, and another bed was discovered to have blood splatters on it… they asked the front lady if someone could come and take out and replace the sheets, but refused because of COVID, although everyone was all negative. We tried another staff member, who assured us some clean linens would be provided–linens that never even came. One of them had two options–sleep on the bloody bed or a bed contaminated with COVID. Our cohort was asked to wear masks in the hotel, even though the rest of us were negative. My group of friends and I complied with this demand, only to be treated like hot garbage by some of the staff. My roommate went downstairs to ask for a key to the new room, and was immediately asked if she had COVID. No, she told them, but was still angrily told to go up to her room. Those in charge of cleaning were told not to come into our rooms to provide us with clean sheets and take out the trash. It was unfortunately realized that the staff would also not help out in delivering food to those quarantined in their room, forcing us students to organize ourselves and create a schedule for this. In the morning, the tirade of disrespect continued. One girl went to ask to fill up her water bottle after breakfast, but one of the front desk people denied her water from the bar, instead telling her to go refill her own bottle in the public bathroom sink. Even though we were asked to have masks on, it seemed like the masks made us pariahs, receiving stares from everyone and the rudest attitudes. Instead of at least treating us like decent human beings, it seemed like we were being punished for something out of our control. However, this only occurred with a few of the staff members, not all of them (the majority were very respectful and helpful to our needs). During our stay, another trip advisor reviewer left a negative review of Ciarus, which some of the staff members suspected that it came from our group. The manager then interrogated a member of our group and began to directly profile our Asian classmates since the review came from someone from Japan. We felt that this was very unprofessional and pretty racist, to put it bluntly.

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